Schoolchildren are being exposed to pesticides through fruit and vegetables handed out through a government scheme, it is claimed.

All pupils aged between four and six are given the food as part of a healthy eating scheme which started in 2004 with £42 million of lottery money.

A new report has said the fruit and vegetables given to children were found to contain residues of 123 different pesticides, including 62 insecticides, 50 fungicides, and five herbicides.

The levels of residue found were low and the Department for Health said there was no risk to children.

Pesticide Action Network UK - which campaigns to eliminate hazardous chemicals - said the cost of ending what it calls exposure to a "cocktail" of chemicals would be around 1p a child per day across the scheme, which currently costs around £40 million a year.

The group said this £5.6 million expense would mean all the produce given out as part of the Department of Health's School Fruit and Vegetables Scheme would be organic and support farmers in the UK.

(Image: Nick Ansell/PA Wire)

Nick Mole from PAN UK said: "Our aim is not to alarm parents but they do have a right to know what chemicals are in the food being given to their children.

"While we applaud the Department for Health's efforts to get children eating more fruit and vegetables, our research shows that the produce they are being given is generally worse than on the supermarket shelves.

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A Department of Health spokesman said: "Fruit and vegetables supplied through the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme follow the same safety and quality legislation as all other fruit and vegetables supplied for consumption in the UK.

"Maximum Residue Levels are set significantly below a level that could represent a risk to health, with the most sensitive individuals in the population taken into consideration.